MMS outlines its Idle Iron program

It’s hurricane season again. The US Minerals Management Service is completing its review of all hurricane-damaged offshore facilities in the Gulf of Mexico region. A recent tally showed Hurricanes Gustav and Ike destroyed 60 platforms.

In preparation for future tropical storms and hurricanes, MMS is monitoring platforms and offshore structures that have a surface location on expired or terminated leases.

Lars Herbst, MMS regional director of the Gulf of Mexico region, spoke about the MMS Idle Iron program while addressing the Offshore Operators Committee on June 3.

Herbst said MMS enforces regulations calling for the plugging and abandonment of inactive wells and wells considered no longer useful for lease operations. MMS reports 515 such wells.

MMS is meeting with operators to discuss their schedules to complete well abandonment work.

“A schedule needs to be in place and followed,” Herbst said in his presentation. “The delay for platform removal will not be allowed to extend indefinitely.”

Generators humming

The sound of generators is common across Houston following Hurricane Ike, which wiped out power to much of the city. The longer my neighborhood goes without power, the more generators I hear at night through my open bedroom windows.

Shortly before Ike struck Galveston, Tex., on Sept. 13, I received a news release from Colonial Pipeline Co. about how Colonial nearly used its generators following Hurricane Gustav, which knocked out electricity at three of Colonial’s central Louisiana stations on Sept. 1.

Colonial bought portable generators after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Following Gustav’s landfall along the Louisiana coast earlier this month, Colonial crews were about 1 hr away from cranking up the generators to restart operations at the Baton Rouge plant when commercial power was restored.

In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina and Rita caused Colonial to shut down completely for 2 days each time. Colonial spokesman Steve Baker says lessons learned in those hurricanes contributed to Colonial quickly restoring pipeline service during this hurricane season.

Meanwhile, I am wondering if electricity to my home will be restored if I go buy a generator, assuming I could even find one to buy in Houston right now. Colonial was wise to buy its generators when it did.